


Visiting the Beach

by sanctum_c



Series: Cloti Week 2018 [4]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Anticipation, Beaches, Costa del Sol (Compilation of FFVII), F/M, Introspection, Junon, Memory Alteration, Missing Scene, Ocean, Pollution - Freeform, Repressed Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:34:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27182518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: The grim sight of the beach and see at Junon; not the first visit Tifa had always anticipated.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Series: Cloti Week 2018 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1554913
Kudos: 6





	Visiting the Beach

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt 'Water parks/Beaches'

The first beach Tifa saw with her own eyes was a polluted mess. The group had reached Junon after an extended hike through the rolling wilderness that surround the major cities of Shinra’s domain. Tempers were a little frayed when they reached the city, and not for the first time, someone voiced the desirability of somehow coaxing the chocobos through the Mythril mines. Too late now, the birds let loose back on the far side of the swamp.

For Tifa, beach had a specific meaning – and had done ever since her childhood in Nibelheim. This beach was like the corrupted version of it. In books, in magazines, on film and TV, a beach was a wide expanse of golden sand. The sea would be a crystalline shade of blue, green or a mix of the two. The sky would be cloudless. A shock to contrast that idealized version with the beach that bordered the lower city of Junon. The sand tended towards muddy in most places; in others it exhibited a rainbow burst of colour indicating heavy metal pollution. The sea was grey and choppy, waves slamming into the heavy red supports holding the Upper city aloft overhead. Most of the resulting artificial sky was dark red, likely spotted here and there with rust.

Disappointing. But the beach had never seemed to be something she could reach – not something she ever aspired to. Something she might get to see one day. Not while living and working in Nibelheim of course; the town was half-way up a mountain, and from the peak of Mount Nibel she had only ever been able to get the faintest glimpse of the ocean in any direction. It was something to experience at some uncertain part of her future. Her hand clasped her chest. If she had left Nibelheim under her own motivation and conscious, perhaps she would have seen the beach before now.

Dark thoughts once more, that frustrating and terrifying hole in her memory, the unknown and still unknowable sequence of events that ferried her from the reactor to a hospital in the slums of sector seven. Tifa shivered, the reaction unrelated to the chill wind.

“Hey?” Cloud was concerned. “You okay?”

And there was another confusing factor in all of this. A man she had not seen in seven years, but who insisted he was part of events five years previous. Excepting hair-dye that was impossible, and yet he knew too much, corroborated too many of her previously suspect memories. She had lied to him; it always stung a little to admit to it, but there was no escaping that truth. But what choice did she have? Her presence, his recognition of her, animated him and got him to his feet. Telling him he remembered wrong would be to pull the vital card out and collapse the whole house. There was something more - but not the time. “Yeah.” She managed a weak smile; Aeris had taken an abrupt interest in the two of them and was grinning. Tifa fought back her own grin and pointedly ignored the other woman. “Cold here though.”

“Yeah." Cloud glanced around. “We should get you somewhere warm.” Memories of Cloud as he was were vague. Someone she knew in Nibelheim - and little else despite the town’s limited population. Cloud had also invited her to meet him at the water tower before he left home. He was not the first and had not been the last to do so. But the others were those she spent the most time with. Cloud was more a loose acquaintance a best. It gave him an air of mystery and it was curiosity that ultimately prompted her to attend.

Cloud previously was blunt, stand-offish and reluctant to meet her eye. Unlike the way he presented his retelling of events. But also unlike the man whose space he seemed to occupy. And that lead around into the frustrating circular logic that was Cloud Strife as she found him now. But he was friendlier now. One might expect a former SOLDIER to be cold and calculating – another shudder at a related memory – or near arrogant and flirtatious. Wrong to pigeon-hole all SOLDIER, but those were her examples. Cloud was neither extreme. He could flirt, though certain phrases would make him blush. He laughed along with other people and seemed – at times – near indestructible.

“Shame it’s so bad here.” Cloud was staring towards the sea too. He nodded. “Costa del Sol’s dead ahead and it looks so much nicer-“ He shook his head. “You’ll see soon.”

“What’s it like?” Tifa blurted.

Cloud grinned. “Just like on TV. As long as I’m remembering right-“ He frowned. “Yeah, yeah its nice there.”

“I think I might have to have you show me around.” Tifa's cheeks already seeming to warm. “If you don’t mind?”

“As long as its not changed too much. And if you want me to accompany you-“ He cut off, blinking furiously, a blush enveloping his face. Beside him Aeris stopped whispering and straightened up. She winked at Tifa. Cloud cleared his throat and strode on ahead.

“What did you-“ Tifa started.

“Swimwear.” Aeris grinned. “You’ll need some for the beach.”


End file.
